On which I write about the books I read, science, science fiction, fantasy, and anything else that I want to. Currently trying to read and comment upon every novel that has won the Hugo and International Fantasy awards.

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Saturday, April 27, 2002

2002 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Kansas City, Missouri.

Comments: 2002 was a good year for Catherine Asaro. Obviously, winning the Nebula Award for Best Novel is the foundation for a good year for any science fiction author. But because that was not enough to honor this author's work, she was also nominated in the best Novella category for her story A Roll of the Dice. Both stories are set in her expansive Skolian Saga, which at this point has to be reckoned as one of the most comprehensive and interesting science fiction series that have been written.

I know Best Script was a relatively new category for the Nebula voters, but it seems like they were still working out the kinks in the selection process. Either that, or those selecting the ballot simply lost their minds in 2002, because I cannot fathom how O Brother, Where Art Thou? got onto the ballot. Granted, it was loosely based upon Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, but that's such a tenuous connection given that the story itself has no speculative fictional elements. In the same time period, the Hugo Award voters managed to nominate both the Dune miniseries and the movie Frequency, neither of which appear on the Nebula ballot. One might argue that either of those choices are not as good as O Brother, Where Art Thou? as dramatic presentations, but both have the distinction of actually being speculative fiction, which the Coen brothers movie is not.

Other Nominees:Auspicious Eggs by James MorrowDance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites by William ShunnThe Pottawatomie Giant by Andy DuncanTo Kiss the Star by Amy Sterling CasilUndone by James Patrick Kelly

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